Jackie Kennedy's sister on how JFK's death left her 'free'

The sister of Jackie Kennedy has opened about her relationship with the former First Lady, admitting that the death of President John F. Kennedy left her “free”.

Lee Radziwill, 83, was known to have a complicated relationship with her sister Jackie, who died in 1994. But in an interview in Vanity Fair, published on Wednesday, she said that she had felt constricted by being the sister-in-law of the president.

“There were so many things I couldn’t do when my brother-in-law was president,” she said. “Finally, I’m free.”

But when JFK was shot, Mrs Radziwill travelled to Washington to comfort her. She tried her best to calm her sister, one night leaving a note on Jackie’s pillow that read: “Good night my darling Jacks—the bravest and noblest of all. L.”

Later Mrs Radziwill confided to the society photographer Cecil Beaton that she “had gone through hell” trying to help her sister. She added: “She’s really more than half round the bend! She can’t sleep at night, she can’t stop thinking about herself and never feeling anything but sorry for herself!”

Jacqueline Kennedy and Lee Radziwill in London with John Kennedy and sister Caroline.Credit:
Ken Mason

Mrs Radziwill told Beaton, according to his memoirs, that Jackie was “so jealous of me, but I don’t know if it’s because I have Stas and two children, and I’ve gone my own way and become independent. But she goads me to the extent that I yell back at her and say, ‘Thank heavens, at last I’ve broken away from my parents and from you and everything of that former life.’”

In the years after JFK’s death, Mrs Radziwill came into her own, having always hated what was written about her during the Kennedy years.

“It was so limited, so jet-set, empty, cold, and not true,” she told Gloria Steinem in an interview.

While still married, Mrs Radziwill had a relationship with Aristotle Onassis, and admitted that she considered marrying him. Jackie Kennedy was sent to Greece to try and convince her not to.

Widow Jacqueline KennedyCredit:
AP Photo

Mrs Radziwill divorced the Polish aristocrat in 1974. But, by that point, her sister was already married to the shipping tycoon.

Jackie did not tell her sister about the wedding, with Onassis instead the one who informed Radziwill. “He begged me to come to the wedding,” she said, which she did. Mrs Radziwill is said to have called her closest friend at the time, writer Truman Capote, and said: “How could she do this to me?”

Onassis would eventually divorce Jackie, but he died in 1975 before it was finalised, leaving her a wealthy woman. Jackie never married again, and in 1994 died of cancer.

Mrs Radziwill still lives in New York City, as does her daughter Anna.